Bill Self and the Kansas University men's basketball team speak to a small crowd Sunday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse. The public was invited to a question and answer session with the team.

Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self offered a trick question to KU students during a question-and-answer session Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Should Jayhawk fans still have the goal of winning a national championship this season even after losing Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins and Xavier Henry from last year’s team?

“It’s kind of a silly question, but I think the answer is, it doesn’t make any difference who we have,” Self said. “Our expectations don’t change.”

With the upcoming season approaching — Late Night in the Phog is Friday — Self shared his optimism about this year’s squad with approximately 150 KU students that showed up for the event.

“By the time this team gets rolling, I’m telling you, this is going to be a fun team to watch,” Self said, “because these guys are fast, and they’re athletic.”

Self was especially excited about this year’s speed.

KU’s pace slowed a tick in the last two years, partly to cater to Aldrich, a center who emerged as one of the best defensive shot-blockers in the nation.

“We played fast, but I think this team can play a little bit faster,” Self said. “The team that won (the national championship) in ’08, I thought, played fast, and certainly, I think if you look at Shady (Darrell Arthur) and Sasha (Kaun) and Darnell (Jackson), we had more bigs that could probably run and do some things than maybe what we’ve had in the past here recently.

“But this team here is that team. The style of play will mirror the ’08 team more so than the last two years’ teams, without question, because the pieces fit to do that.”

KU, which has won at least a share of the last six Big 12 regular-season championships, was picked second in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll last week. Kansas State, with 10 first-place votes, was first.

Self, who was not allowed to vote for his own team, picked the Wildcats as the top team on his ballot.

“If you’re going to rate the teams out there, I think K-State should be, on paper, the best returning team,” Self said. “But that excludes us, because I like our chances. I love our team.

“I think this team ... don’t be discouraged, because not too many teams go 33-3 and are ranked No. 1 all but three weeks out of the course of a year. That doesn’t happen very often. But I really believe this team can, by the end of the day, be as good as last year’s team. But we’re not going to start there.”

Self on Selby

Self said KU was still in a waiting period for news on freshman point guard Josh Selby, who has not yet been cleared by the NCAA to participate in games.

“We’ve been expecting (a decision) for a while,” Self said. “But I saw a couple of cases just in the last week where kids are going through the same thing and decisions were rendered or delayed. He’s going through a process. Josh hasn’t done anything wrong. But the NCAA has to definitely go through this.”

The NCAA continues to look into Selby’s academic eligibility and status as an amateur. Though Selby hasn’t been cleared to play in games, the NCAA has cleared him to be on scholarship, attend class and practice.

“There are a few elements going on, and we’re very respectful of that,” Self said. “But we think we presented it in a way that leaves very little doubt, at least from our standpoint, on what should occur.

“Still, we see it from biased eyes, too, so we’re just going to have to wait and see and certainly respect the process. But on the flipside, we want to know sooner rather than later.”

Reed says to expect dunks

Kansas senior guard Tyrel Reed expects to put his team-best 42-inch vertical jump to good use this season.

The senior guard said that fans should see him dunk this season.

“I think I should,” Reed said. “I’ve had opportunities to, and I haven’t before. For sure.

“I need to show that white men can jump,” he added with a laugh.

Morningstar talks leadership

Kansas senior guard Brady Morningstar gave an entertaining answer when asked how he planned to lead on this year’s team.

“Since I’ve already graduated, I just make these little kids go to class and watch over them,” Morningstar said of his teammates. “If they miss, we all run, so that’s the type of leadership role I have.”

Comments

You heard it from Self himself above: "This year's team will mirror the 08 team in style of play and speed...we have the pieces to fit that (style)". Hell yeah!

White men can jump? Tyrel Reed has a 42" vertical? OMG! Would love to see Reed dunk like EJ and TT, and I assume Selby...

Only ingredient not commented on was the defense: Will it approach the work done by the savants Rush, Chalmers, and Robinson--and thus feed a steady diet of fast break opportunities?

Jaybate,
XTReme muscle ball can get "uglied-up" by great D just like anyone, but now we have more athletes to play such D, and also to feed on a turnover or rebounded transition break. And we got more on the bench. Good luck to guys like Egelseder or F----kmanesh, or the whole Duke team trying to keep up with us! And the difference between our athletes and the "Whippets of UNC" is that we play D. This is why I will hang my hat on SelfBall (played to its near-perfect pinnacle in 08), as a complete system of recruiting athleticism, conditioning, offense, defense, and teamwork. RCJH

Good question about the "D". I'm hoping our speed will help in this area, I think it will. I also think these guys are probably the most athletic players we've had, maybe ever, but that doesn't always equate to having the best team, but it sure doesn't hurt.

I never read anything about this event. Maybe it wasn't designed to be a full blown "press conference" by design. Nothing worse than having thousands of fans fighting for a microphone to ask their questions. 150 people was much more of a managable size attendance in this situation.

It would be interesting to learn how it took place. Anybody on here attend?

I attended, it was open to everyone by the public. My roomate told me about it an hour before hand, so i just went and it was a good experience and some one on one time with the players. Everyone signed autographs after the event, Selby is one funny guy, he is a little cocky but going to be a beast!

This Selby story is just one of many embarrassing situations for the NCAA. For a so-called "professional" organization to take soooooooo long to make a decision is just not right. Every day that passes without a decision widens the NCAA credibility gap. I can see the headlines in the sports page in the year 2015 which could say, "Selby Could Have Played for the Jayhawks After All" according to the NCAA. Who hires the people who work for the NCAA? Better yet, who has the authority to fire them?

The NCAA says he can be on scholorship, practice and attend class right now. There is nothing more Selby needs right now, they have until November to clear him to play in games. It does seem it is taking too long for them to decide, but there is some obvious issues that need to be investigated. We don't want them to clear Selby to play and then a few years down the road say he was inelgible to play and cancel our entire season like they are doing to players like Reggie Bush.

If this were the only situation that they were investigating, the delay would truly be questionable. As Coach Self mentions, there are plenty of other situations so lots to be investigated. My guess is that they want to release the majority in the same general time frame - so that it is less likely to be perceived as favoritism to one school or another.

Reed has a 42 in vertical! WOW! I belive Michael Jordon has a 42 in vertical, of course he was a few inches taller than Reed. Talk about getting the fans fired up at a game if a point guard will fly in and dunk it on someone. I thought Reed didn't have a good vertical since he never dunk it. I would like to see all of the KU players be more agressive around the rim this year since we will be slightly under sized compared to the last few years.

I've always said I thought the 2010-2011 team was our next shot at a NCAA championship. Aldrich and Collins played a much slower game that relied on Aldrich playing interior defense. Collins was a limited defender and a bit of ball hog on offense, which inhibited team play on the offensive end.

I thought our best moments as a team in 2009-2010 were those when Taylor, Reed, Henry, Morris and Morris were on the court. Henry is gone but Little, Selby and Morningstar can easily fill that void. Add Thomas Robinson to the mix and you got Self's likely 8 man rotation. 3 PFs (Morris x2, Robinson) , 2 SG/SFs (Morningstar, Little), and 3 Combo Guards (Selby, Taylor, Reed).

I guess at least some of the KU players get on kusports.com to read the posts and perhaps comment, but can anyone tell me if it is known whether or not Head Coach Bill Self himself ever visits here?
I think it would be rather fun if he not only visited, but also took the time to comment occasionally on some of the ideas and concerns expressed here.

I suppose you are going to say he has better things to do, but I am only suggesting he give us an hour or two a week. And anyway, what could be better than interacting with KU's most loyal fans (except an NC)? Maybe he doesn't even know about this site or perhaps he is just waiting for an invitation!

Of course, he may already visit here incognito. What if he called himself, for example, Jaybate??

"""I think it would be rather fun if he not only visited, but also took the time to comment occasionally on some of the ideas and concerns expressed here."""

Since your having fun is the primary purpose of KU basketball, it really is out of line for HCBS to spend so much of his time on unimportant stuff like conditioning, player development, recruiting . . . you know, the things that make ours the best program in the country.

I think it would be rather fun to hear his opinion of the level of acumen we see daily on this and other forums –– but then that opinion may be well expressed by completely ignoring us and our blatherings.

Royce is as likely to redshirt as EJ was last year. Really no reason to.

Withey or Robinson could be Aldrich v.'08.

I expect that EJ & Travis will eventually get more PT in place of Brady & Tyrel just like TT did at the end of last year. B&T bring great assests to the team, but come crunch time, Coach will look to the greater speed offered by the former.

Finally, we are in October and can start being fed the stuff that makes me excited to be a KU fan, more specifically a basketball fan. It was speed and quickness on both ends of the court that won the 2008 NC. It is great to hear that we again have that commodity that cannot be coached.

Passing and Catching the ball, that is what made the 08 team amazing to watch. That and great defense. Last year's team was the worst passing KU team I remember seeing. That is what will enable you to play fast.

It was open to everyone, i had no idea about it until my roomate dragged me to go with him 30 minutes before. All the players including self signed autographs afterwards. This is going to be a very fast team, lots of running and gunning. Selby and Tyshawn will battle for the starting PG position, expect selby to put up 25 a game. He is going to be a beast, and for Self he has his hands full with this team, what i mean by that is there is so much talent he doesnt know what to do with it. This team will win it all with there speed and depth.

I honestly expect our team defense to be better this year. I think our guards took it for granted that Cole was back there to bail them out. The effort wasn't always there. Especially Tyshawn, who has the ability to be an elite defensive player.

Good reply...the quicker guards this year will cut down the number of ventures into the lane. Last year, the key looked like the Kansas Turnpike...however, last year we did have one hell of a scary tollbooth attendant!! :)

I think it will depend a lot on how good a defender Selby is. As much as I love Sherron, he did have a tendancy to allow players to blow by him at times. If Selby can defend the ball, everything will fall into place. Defense really, truly starts with defending the quarterback... so to speak.

Here is an interesting signing by Oklahoma State. Karron Johnson is 6'8 "3.5/4 man" that just signed with the cowboys. This is intersting because it may be the small windown that Self needs to sign LeBryan Nash. How sweet would that be?

The 42" vertical from Reed jumped off the page at me. I never have seen anything in his game to make me believe that he has that type of spring. With that, he should be doing the type of stuff we have seen EJ do on Youtube. But hey, if he can, then let's see him catching some alley-oops, too.

As for this year's team, the biggest question on how this team does is whether or not Selby can play. If Selby is eligible, KU is a title contender. If not, the burden falls to either EJ or Royce to prove that they can be a steady ball handler. If they can, KU can still contend for a title, because Marcus Morris is going to average 15 and 8, and Mario Little is going to average 12 and 5 and Markieff is going to average 12 and 7. That's a very stout front line. Mark them down for close to 40 and 20 every single night.

If the guard play keeps up with that, then KU will be right there come March. If not, then teams will pack it in against us.

there are things by nature we just sometimes don't understand. We have to believe them because its always staring us in the face, somethings are just alot easier to conceive.

Kenny Gregory had a 42 inch vertical. It's easy to conceive him hanging in the air and throwing down dunk after dunk. sometimes in stunning fashion.

Kenny Gregory's game was never to be the intangibles guy, or to hit 40+ percent from three point land, or spot at Point guard, or find a way out onto the court by your efforts alone. That is why Tyrel's 42 is so unbelievable.

Here's the twist, Tyrel's the type of player who doesn't NEED to prove it. He won't go out there in a game just to throw down a windmill 360 passing the ball between his legs. He's much more content to do things in the flow of what he's asked to do. He's a tireless worker. He probably tinkers with ball handling, defensive positioning, and getting his shot up faster than hang around dunking after practice. He probably spends more time in the film room than dunking after practice. He DEFINETELY spends more time in the weight room after practice.

Thing is, all those things are solid proof he can do it. i doubt he came to Kansas with that much of a vertical. He's too smart a player to force it in the game. He's probably an avid enough Poker player to have shown enough in practice, possibly by dunking on some of the more "athletic" players.... He's probably improved that number over the 4 ( 5) years just through working at every last ounce he could to get better. MOre will to find the court.

Things we know. He played last year significantly more minutes than EJ, and none of it was because of his "vertical," yet Bill's the sort of coach that would play to a more athletic upside if it could help him win games. IE, If the ability to jump 42 inches or 36 inches in any given game would have made a differrence, we would have seen more of Elijah. All signs point to Tyrel being at least near that level.

I remember from watching him play he's not afraid to go in there and get rebounds, alot of that probably comes from his proportionate size and phsyicality for his position ( IE Kid from Purdue who also is a weight room kid whos name escapes me right now ) Some of that would atest to him being able to Out jump the guy he's guarding.

Suffice it to say, if he threw down a windmill between the legs 360.... I would think, where's that been tyrel. But if he skied over a small forward to pick up a rebound he should not have, that would just make me think back to his tireless work ethic, is will to win, and his will-to just get on the court. It's hard to doubt him on this, from my standpoint, specifically since it's others saying this. Sometimes nature is just so inconceivable, even though the facts stare you right in the face.

~Except at a pep rally hoping to spike some ethusiasm, its unpersuasive to compare this team to the '08 team.

~Any team that can run and chooses to do so, can play like the '08 team. But not any team has the trey skills, penetration skills, defensive skills, strength, physical maturity, and experience to go along with the athleticism and to play this way as effectively.

~Also, the game has changed dramatically since '08. Conference play is now as rough as the Madness was in '08. The Madness is now vastly rougher than in '08. And there are many more metronome-tempo-control teams playing now than in '08, and more of these teams are reaching the Madness and gumming up the "athletic" teams sooner in the Madness.

~Next, last season, Coach Consonants probably changed everything for the next ten years of D1, certainly in the Madness, by proving that the refs would allow non-stop cheap-shotting, as a defensive strategy, even when the game was close.

~XTReme Muscle Ball is here. It is a fact. We saw it with our own eyes time and again in the last Madness.

~Time's arrow only points one direction and that is forward. If KU goes back to its '08 style of play, and the refs don't go back with KU, everything will have changed but the way we think. We will be like Hank Iba's teams late in his career, still trying in 1966 to win playing the way his teams won playing in 1946. In terms of defense, and body contact, and cheap-shotting becoming allowed, the game has changed almost as much from 2008 to 2011, as it did from 1946 to 1966. Contemporary life is nothing if not the story of accelerated change.

~On the reverse dribble, if Self can find a way to XTReme Muscle and cheap shot out of the '08 model of play, then that would be going forward with time's arrow and that approach would have a better chance of succeeding. My guess, based on his past willingness to quickly adapt Hack'n'Slap, and his long preference to play it any way you want, is that we are going to see a decisively more aggressive team, not just a faster team.

~Axiom: any team playing with a dominant post man always plays faster and with more "athleticism" when he leaves. Each time Wooden lost a dominant post man that the team had revolved around the previous season, Wooden admitted to:

a) being relieved at not having to play to avoid losing, and, instead at being able to play to win again; and

b) being happy to get back to playing a faster game.

Big men warp the space around them with their dominant personalities and uniquely advantageous skill sets. Not to adapt play to them is foolish, but playing through the big man in the middle is not necessarily the most fun and exciting way to coach, or to play, the game. Its just the highest percentage approach to winning the most games.

~Board rats, me included sometimes, fail to recollect Self's first four perimeter players on the '08 ring team were his best and were effectively interchangeable. One gave a little more of this and a little less of that, but none of the four created huge gaps that needed masking, except when injured. Self did not have to platoon to get what he needed in a game at the perimeter, at any given time. While he got more offense from Sherron, things hardly went dead with RR. Defense ranged from great to good, depending who of the four were on the floor. Defense sagged a little when Sherron came in, because he was hurt so much of the time, but the great defenders provided all the help he ever needed and when the chips were down, it turned out that Sherron was quite capable of guarding Derek Rose and holding him to 15. All four KU perimeter players could play it any way an opponent wanted...and usually better than the opponent did it themselves.

~In the paint, Arthur, Jackson, and Kaun were big, strong, fast and good defenders on and off ball. To whit they could handle almost anyone straight up. The only exception was when Arthur was intermittently off planet, which happened only for brief stretches in the Madness, and he could be more than adequately subbed for by Kaun, and the scoring burden could be shifted to Rush. Each '08 big could board, put back and finish with anyone in the country. Arthur was a natural scorer, Jackson was self-taught. Kaun had lost his scoring most of his scoring mojo, because of the knee injuries and hard hands, the latter of which had always made him tough to pass to.

~More specifically on the perimeter, Self did not have to platoon to get good defense, or good scoring, or good ball handling, or good penetrating. The first four could do it all--Rush, Chalmers, RR and Sherron.

~The first four gave you as much outside shooting as you needed, again regardless of who was in. Rush and Chalmers were 40% plus trifectates, while RR and Sherron were the "weak links" at 38%.

~Also, these four were bullet proof reliable by their senior years. They stripped every ball in sight and protected every possession like crazy. And all four could muscle the heck out of their opponents.

~This year, unless Self's perimeter players skill sets have dramatically rounded out, Self has to go to one group of perimeter players for athleticism, and to another group of perimeter players for the trinities. He has to go to one group for great defense and to another for offense. He has to go to one group for size and another for speed. He has to go to one group for experience, and another for athleticism.

~The absense of four consumate perimeter players means Self has to play more players than in '08, or settle for less of something.

~On one level, coach like teams with incomplete players, because it means the coach gets to do more subbing, and matching of wits with other coaches, something coaches like, whether they admit it or not.

~On another level, coaches are human. They like to see players running and jumping like gazelles and they know that fans like it more, too, so its a good thing for them to promise at the beginning of each season, as Self almost always has. "We're going to play quite a bit of up-tempo this season" ought to be embroidered onto all of Self's collars and cuffs that he wears...before the conference season starts. Its good for fan excitement. Its good for coaches and players excitement. But in January reality sets in and the embroidered collars and cuffs should wind up in moth balls for next year. January is when reality sets in...not just about which players get the PT, but about what kind of play the team can actually engage successfully in.

~Axiom: a team will never play as fast as expected.

~The '08 team could run every team it met that season off the floor, out of the arena, into the mean streets and across town. But the skills of basketball--shooting, defense, passing, rebounding, plus match-ups of height and weight--precipitate situational opportunities of varied strategy and tactics that mean even the fastest, most athletic teams do not "run" all the time, or even most of the time.

Also enjoyed the shout out to General Relativity with respect to the big man. Surprised you didn't take it to the next logical step and explain how Gen Relativity (big man) and quantum mechanics (small speedy guard play) can't both mathematically be correct, and thus the creation of String Theory (four inter-changable guards with fast, up-tempo bigs) is the only way to make it all work....

Ahh, the elusive basketball general field theory... with it, we could understand all...

~Wooden's UCLA teams were always misunderstood to play wildly faster than everyone else. Rupp's UK running game was probably faster up and down the floor than Wooden's UCLA teams. Roy's running teams probably have been faster up and down the floor than Wooden's UCLA teams. But what no one has done before or since, was set the metronome as consistently quick up the floor, and as consistently gummed up slow back down the floor (on defense) as Wooden's teams did. Wooden did for up-tempo, what Hank Iba did for slow tempo, and what the Norther Iowa coach and a few others have done for tempo just slower than an opponent likes. Wooden, Iba, et al, mastered getting teams to set tempos at rates that most teams could not play as efficiently at, as tempo-setting team could.
~Self, as bequeathed to him by Eddie, has, until recently, turned all that tempo setting on its head by encouraging his teams to play it any tempo they want, and then to beat them by being vastly more facile at seeking out what the opponent's scheme gives you that you can establish clear match up advantage in exploiting.

~Let me repeat that: Self beats opponents by encouraging his teams to play it any tempo they want, and then to beat them by being vastly more facile at seeking out what the opponent's scheme gives you that you can establish clear match up advantage in exploiting.

~For Self Ball to work, Self has to have a core of players that can play it any way the opponent wants. He likes to play with 7, or 8 players, because it is usually impossible to find any more than that can play it any way an opponent wants--players sufficiently well rounded that they can stay on the floor and be effective against any opposing strategy and tactic of play, and have a mix of skills that enable Self's few, the proud, the Marines, to grind it out and find those often not readily apparent match up advantages, based on what the opponent's strategy gives up, and then exploit those advantages to win a game.

~In essence, Self is looking for a few good men, guys who can be turned in to a band of fanatic razor blades willing to run as fast as an opponent wants to run for as long as it wants to run, or slug it out beyond when the opponent wants to stop slugging it out, and yet cut deep, deep into the quick of an opponent, as the opponent struggles to understand why, if it has been able to set the tempo its coach preached, and play the style its coach wanted played, that Self and his Jayhawks keep filetting it with its weaknesses and squirting out into runs that widen the KU lead in the game, or keep it close and ready to strike the last 2 minutes.

~Axiom: it is terribly demoralizing to do exactly what you have been trained to do and have it not work.

~Until last season, it has been fun to have the Self Ball system endlessly skewing strategic advantage in KU's favor. But, despite our gaudy record, something changed last season, and it wasn't bad blood, or bad chemistry, or lack of talent. Last season, coaches and their teams began to figure out how to stay in the games with KU, even when KU held all the advantage in talent. As always happens, opposing coaches are beginning to figure out how to play remarkable new approach to playing the game. Self Ball, as bequeathed by Eddie, has taken much longer for coaches to figure out counterstrategies and counter tactics, because Self Ball, as bequeathed by Eddie, is very frigging counter intuitive to basketball traditions. You can almost hear Bob Knight and Dean Smith and Coach Consonants early on: It isn't manly to let other teams set the tempo, whether or you call your training camp Boot Camp, or not. This Oklahoma Hard Scrabble Judo, this Stillwater Star Wars Feel The Force Basketball Philosophy is just not American.

~Oh but it is most American. It just tracks back to a time when American leadership, especially its private oligarchy, wasn't so arrogant and drunk with the power to print its own money and fight wars without ever having to declare them. Back in the days when America's oligarchy had come up the hard way and had some humility from having done so, and still walked the talk of the Declaration of Independence and Constititution that that private oligarchy signed on to in order to keep from being reconquered by England, France or Spain, the way America played the game was "Play it any way they like and then take what they give us."

~Washington, Adams, Franklin and their revolutionary country and eventually their revolutionary army tried everything to avoid war, up to and including wanting America desperately to be a voting member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, not a sovereign republic of all things. They never set out to impose a free country on the world. They set out to play it any way the British wanted and to then exploit their match-up opportunities as they came. They did not set the tempo against the British. A short sighted British monarch attempting to regress backward to less democracy and more authoritarian monarchy forced our founders into taking what they gave us. The attempt to turn back the clock hands of time by the British King, even as the colonists played it anyway they wanted by begging to the last minute to be Common Wealth members, then combined with the countervailing forces of France and Spain, to make the match-up advantage clear to our founders--take what their foolish attempt to set the tempo and style of play has given us--a straight path to independent sovereignty between the countervailing forces of Britain, France and Spain.

~Axiom: Only fools start wars.

~The armies needed to start wars are always lightening quick and designed to crush a lesser opponent. Armies created to counter such wars, are designed to counter the opponent's army, first, and then to crush it. Therefore, wise men (and women) prepare for the war they will let come to them that others start. The war the fool starts is a different war than the war the wise man reacts to. Whoever can survive to start the second war wins for it is harder to create an army than to recreate one.

~Axiom: All strategy involves shaping the battle field, i.e., shaping the game space, where the battle/competition will occur.

~Once the colonists had played it the way the British wanted, and once they had taken what was given, independence, then it was time to let the British set the style and tempo on the battle field and take what the British gave there, too. The British wore red uniforms and liked to use their superior force and rigid formations and vast navy and vast wealth to grind it out and draw an opponent into a crushing loss. Washington and his staff said, okay, we'll play grind it out, too. It would be stupid to think we could resist that British strategy with a single blow. But within that grind it out strategy, we will take what the British tactics give us, too. We will take the guerilla advantage. We will fight the way the Native Americans have fought us the last hundred years in these forests. The battle field will be our ally. They basically invented guerilla warfare tactics among westerners, by adopting same from Native Americans.

~Lincoln let events come to him.

~FDR, Marshall, King and Eisenhower especially let events come to them. They let the Axis attack first. They let flanked at every significant point they could see match-up advantage, "before" making the frontal assault on Channel. They never made the frontal assaault on Japan. If they want to strike first and fast, let them. If they want to grind it out, grind it out, but always look for the match-up advantage and exploit it successfully...again and again and again...until the enemy's strategy itself becomes unstainable; then sweep in for the kill with overwhelming force.
~All this talk of lightening basketball is great in autumn, but learning to play it anyway they want and then capitalizing on match-up advantages is as American as apple pie and declared war used to be.

~Axiom: Fears of new technology tends to make oligarchies, especially very small ones commanding very large organizations, think they need to strike first and hardest to pre-empt the risk that the new technology will not only take out their pawns, but themselves as well.

~Axiom: Maintaining neutral balance enables the paradox of striking with full force at the right moments.

~Self is wisely sticking with Self Ball and with letting games come to him, but again, the opposing coaches have figured out that if you:

a) set the tempo just a little slower than is optimal for a Self team, not way slow, nor way faster, and hold the tempo relentlessly steady, it makes it very difficult for a Self team playing it any way you want to then "get loose" with the match-up advantages and get a run that creates a lead, or widens one; and

b) shove KU's "athletes" out of position and foul them in their "creating" routines...

an opponent can stay close, or beat, KU even when the opponent has sharply less athletic ability and less skill.

~Self has to counter shoving with shoving, just as he had to counter hack'n'slap with hack'n'slap.

~Self has to figure out a counter to metronome offenses and I cannot at this point yet guess how he will resolve this obstacle.

~If Coach Consonants' Cheap-Shot Defense spreads, as rapidly as I expect, Self has to counter with his own Cheap-Shot Defense.

Axiom: every season is a laboratory of change small and large.

Closing Thought: Those that try to repeat the past, when contextual circumstances and skill and experience levels have changed, are doomed to fail.

(Note: In the age of Twitter, you have to stretch the envelope to escape the shackles.)

Through January, I look to see Self experiment with more players than he has employed heretofore at KU. His stable of experienced and supertalented novices allows for much jostling of lineups. The injury situation could at any time toss a wrench into planning. But the Jayhawks probably will not find themselves struggling at season's end with an exhausted somewhat overweight and injured floor leader and a major Big whose third season's performance was occasionally impaired by respiratory and family focus situations. These were two great, very talented Jayhawks; but for various complications were not always at the tops of their games in crucial contests.
Obviously, the 2010/11 Jayhawks are a very different talented group. Selby's eligibility remains a key factor. If he comes aboard, this team could really fly by midFebruary!

Money men - the guys i expect to be shooting with the season on the line

Marcus Morris, Tyrrel reed, and Josh Selby.

I know adding the frosh into tis impactis asking alot, but If you got the blue chip, you gotta gowith him

The guys who will systemwise steal games for us.

Mario, Markieff, Thomas, Brady and Ej.

Thse guys will be at times required to bring that extra level and get us out of tough scrapes....

The guy who could easily cost us a title.

Jeff Withey.

I know it's harsh, but we don't have that fourth big right now and until he is ready to BE that fourth big we are still waiting for him. There will be a game when we have to go to Jeff because of Foul trouble, Will he be ready?

The guy who could easily win us a title.

Tyshawn Taylor.

If the previous post didn't get you red, this one most definetely will get you irate. He is the point guard of this team, and when he decides to put together a complete game he is unstoppable, he's a decent enough shooter, he's faster than almost all the guards we face, he plays pretty good defense and he has the teaching of an A+ point guard coach before he even got here. This is THE guy who can rise our game to that next level, if he so decides.... He has alienated about 75 percent of the posters with his turnoverrs, attitude, show-boating, and occasional lapses, but riddle me this.... Who else do you think can deliver this team when the chips are down ??? Who else has proven themselves on a NATIONAL level playing the PG position on our team ????

While I agree with most of your post... I disagree about Taylor. You put say "Who else do you think can deliver this team when the chips are down?".. To be fair, Taylor has NEVER delivered when the pressure sets in. I can't remember a single game where the going got tough, and Taylor did anything but make turnovers or disappear offensively.

I still think EJ is our future. He's got all the athletic ability, and a head on his shoulders to utilize it... He simply hasn't been given any time on the court to prove he can dominate.

In all fairness to TT though, i will begin this season with an open mind and allow him to prove he either can or cannot handle the team. I just hope that he's splitting time with EJ regardless, because EJ is one explosive offensive threat.

Theutus, You are one of the 75 percent he has let down. But i challenge you this. When you have an older undersized 2 who has good handles and an legit sized 1 who cannot shoot who do you let control the offense.....

To that end we haven't seen Tyshawn Play, yet.

There's a reason he was on that U-19 team, kid can run the point. He's not so much a shooter, he's born and bred to run the point, and those who think Selby's going to run the point..... Forget it. Selb'y going to bring the ball up on occasion but when play is mandated until Selby proves he's got all the tools that ball will be in Tyshhawn's hands. maybe that's december maybe it's not this year, But I still See tyshawn being our Deron Williams this year..... modest scoring totals, not alot of shots, but alot of plays made.

I do not disagree with you on EJ though. Ej's awesome and I would have liked to see more of him last year. I think Ej's going to eat into Brady's minutes though not Tyshawns.

$hit talks and money walks. Still probably can't go to his left. Just like some digress and can't comment about what the story really says, just go on and on and on... AADD or AIED (Adult inflated ego disease.) We all know whom that applies to. More likely it's that dredded oriental affliction-Lack o' nooky disease. Bet Reed would go to his left real quick for a POA.